Activity 3: (5 – 10 min)

Activity 4: (15 – 30 min)

Note: The SWKLS office is a partner with Kansas Talking Books and helps spread the word about Kansas Talking Books through health fairs and other events. If you ever have questions or have a facility or library user in town that has questions, please don’t hesitate to have them call us. Your library’s main function is to know what the service is, help identify library users that may benefit from the service, and have the paperwork available for library users. Please let us know if you ever have questions.

The SWKLS Office will be happy to send in your applications as well.

Post the following below:

At least two things you learned this lesson.

Reply to one other person’s comment.

50 thoughts on “12 Things 2018: Thing 3”

Talking Books was not exactly what I had figured it would be, but it seems it would be a great service to offer. I like that libraries can have a demo access only account on hand for patrons that are curious as to what Talking Books is/does! I never knew there were such things as e-Braille machines, they are very interesting looking but also a great service to offer if you ever have a patron with that specific need! Looking forward to enrolling our library as we have many older patrons come in for Large Prints, and know of several at the local assisted living facility that might benefit from this program!

With being fairly new to the library, I did not know much about this service. I learned that the service is completely free, no overdue fines! I also didn’t know there is an app they can use after being approved. Also, I missed one on the quiz because I read to fast! I always confuse UPS and USPS if I’m not paying attention! Lesson learned!! 🙂

I missed the same questions also by reading to fast. This is a service that I have used many times. We had several patrons at our rest home. Using this service. They would share the books. Also one of our patrons when she died left her memorial to “Talking Books”. I ordered books for those that had trouble doing this. Working with the people at Emporia was always a great experience. I need to do a better job of getting the word out about this service. For those that use this service. They love it.

I also missed one question. I knew the answer but still managed to clicked the wrong one. I got ahead of myself. We’ve been very happy that we can provide information to our patrons, about this service. And, many are using it.

What didn’t I learn! I haven’t paid much attention to the Talking Books portion of the State Library. I had no idea that there were others who were eligible for this service who were not blind or visually impaired. The demo account for libraries would be great to have available at most libraries. The Librarian’s role in the process of a patron’s applying for an account surprised me. I didn’t realize someone would have to certify as to the patron’s need for the Talking Books program before the patron would be accepted.

I knew little about Kansas Talking Books, but knew that my father-in-law had used this service in the past. I’m looking forward to asking questions and determining who might benefit from this service in our community. I agree with everyone that has suggested that the demo account will be quite useful.

I love your statement “What didn’t I learn!” I thought I understood a lot more than I did. I, too, was surprised to hear of other eligibility. I can think of a handful of patrons who could benefit. I also didn’t realize they had a collection for YA.

I might not have thought about looking for individuals with a short term need for Talking Books, so I appreciated being pointed in that direction. I also had not realized that the players were designed to accommodate the visually impaired through an audio recognition of the buttons. I did not know that Kansas Talking Books provided descriptive videos or that the library in Emporia pulls so many books in a day. Wow! What a blessing. I plan to check with our nursing home soon to see if they would be interested in receiving this service.

I liked how Talking Books where offered for long and short term needs as well! Not being able to even read a newspaper or magazine would be hard if you had an incident where you couldn’t see. This machine could help so many. Our nursing home offers the Talking Books to the residents and I have seen them using them. All of this will be so useful to so many. I will defiantly recommend this to others in our community and everywhere I go!

I learned so much! I remember Jean tossing the term “Talking Books” around when she trained me and pointed out that a particular cabinet had “Talking Books” info in it but that was about the extent of what I knew about this service. Laurie and I have discussed it this week as we have done this training and she added even more info.

I used talking books with a disabled student when I was in Special Ed at Shallow Water many years ago. He loved it! The machines look so much nicer and more compact now 🙂 I am going to talk to see about sharing it with our local nursing home….where do I find the application for an institution? The only one I saw on the State website was for patrons. I am also going to see if our local eye doctor has any patients that he could share the information with. I will check with our school librarians to see if they know about this service.
On the video he said that they do their own “in-house” narrating of “Kansas” books and W.A.W books. So I am wondering how are they handling the copyright issue with all those different books/authors since we were told that we can’t read books either FB live or recorded for our patrons?
I like that we can scan and email applications in to get the process started faster than by snailmail. And that we can sign-off as the qualified authority in three of the requirements.
I was surprised that a 1/3 of the services of the State Library is for Talking books.
It was a good lesson! Thanks!

Their equipment definitely has changed over the years! Thank you for the great questions. They’re so good, I don’t even know the answers! lol. I sent an email to Kansas Talking Books to see if they can help and I will paste their response as soon as I hear it.

We also have paper copies of applications to mail if anyone would rather use them.

The 1996 Chafee Amendment (Public Law 104-197) allows for reproduction by an authorized entity (nonprofit organization or a governmental agency that has a primary mission to provide specialized services to blind or other persons with disabilities) in a specialized format (audio, braille, or digital text) of previously published, nondramatic literary works provided that they are exclusively for use by the blind or disabled. To comply with the law our recordings state that any further reproduction or distribution in other than a specialized format is an infringement and have a copyright notice identifying the copyright owner and the date of the original publication.

I followed this link and found the application for institutions. I am still confused about how to apply for a demo account for the library, though. Do I use an institutional application or a regular application? Neither seems quite right.

Aren’t libraries the best!! I knew we had Talking Books but, didn’t know much on how it all worked until now. We can start offering it more and show patrons how easy it is to apply. Being able to help people of all ages with their reading needs is so amazing. Another great lesson as always! Thanks

I learned that our library can sign up and have a Talking Books demo player. I also learned that a librarian can sign and be a certified authority. I figured that it had to be a doctor. I knew about some of their services because my husbands Grandmother uses it. What I didn’t know and I am going to tell her is about the magazines. This Things 3 was full of information that I didn’t know about. I plan on talking to our Senior Center and let them know more about this service. Thanks for making us more aware Janelle!

I had never heard about Talking books so all the information was new to me, but what i found most interesting were the e-Braille machines. I also appreciate the fact that libraries are able to have a demo account. Wish I’d known about this earlier though, we have a patron who had eye surgery and was unable to read/watch anything for nearly a year! This would have been great!

Two things that I learned about the Talking Books service is that they can keep the copies as long as they wont and will not have any late fees, also that they offer magazines as well, not just books. I think this is such a wonderful service and love that I know more about it know and can offer it to such patrons!

I knew very little about Talking Books before this lesson, so I learned quite a bit. I think we’ll be contacting the local Long Term Care home to see if they have residents who would be interested. I also learned we can certify people as librarians without having to get a doctor’s signature. That could be very helpful.

I didn’t know that the Talking Books service is one third of the State Library’s services! I wasn’t aware of the institutional account while Michael was talking, but my memory is telling me I have seen an older machine in a cabinet somewhere. Guess I get to go on a Talking Books machine hunt tomorrow! I have given applications to the Activities Director at the nursing home, I need to connect with her to see if she had any trouble getting her residents back to reading.

I knew nothing about the Talking Books service so this was a very informative lesson. I learned that it’s offered completely free of charge for qualifying patrons. I also learned which patrons might be eligible to qualify and that, in most cases, we as librarians could certify “need” for local patrons. I think the demo account would be a great way to help elderly patrons feel more comfortable with using the device.

An incredible service. I will be investigating how to get the machine and then probably go visit some places that serve seniors to get the word out.
In reflection, I think this is a failing in our profession in regards to services we provide. We focus lots of energy on getting kids to read, but not so much when it comes to seniors. I think the comment about our large print readers being future users creates an opportunity to put up a little display in the large print area about this service.

We have had a player for a while and have gotten several patrons signed up. WE also get the bi-monthly catalogs with available titles. Our nursing home has a player, as well. I didn’t know about the braille connection. Nor did I know that magazines were available. That’s cool. We did have one patron 2-3 years ago who had Jean sign her application, but it was turned down. They said she needed a doctor to sign it. This patron was not blind, but even the large type was beginning to blur and she couldn’t differentiate between words. Thought this would have fallen under a visual impairment. She did get a doctor’s signature though, and was accepted. Just still not sure why Jean’s signature wasn’t accepted.

You do have to make sure your patron understands that they need to keep the box the machine comes in because this is the box it must be returned in. And, keep the envelopes the cassettes come in, as well. To get free return shipping they must be in the original packaging.

Thanks so much for the great tips! I am not sure why Jean’s signature wouldn’t have been accepted either. I wonder if some of that has changed recently, but honestly I am not sure. I will ask Tandy in our office when I get a chance. She has done the most work with it out all of us in the office currently.

I did not know that this could be a temporary service. I did not realize that a librarian could sign the application. This is a great service. My Mother-in-law used the service the last 15 to 20 years of her life. She loved it !

Several of you asked how a library can apply to be a demo library. I asked Michael Lang from Talking Books. Here’s what he had to say:

The library would fill out the same institutional application as any other institution. The application would need to be signed by the library director. The only real rule for the library is that once received, the equipment we send should only be used for demonstration/informational purposes. They shouldn’t lend it out to patrons to use as a personal machine, etc.